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Daughter of Green Party campaigner named North Herefordshire parliamentary candidate

A LEOMINSTER woman is set to follow in her mum's footsteps in a bid to become North Herefordshire's MP.

Daisy Blench will become one of the youngest politicians in the country if she defeats takes the seat from Conservative MP Bill Wiggin at the next election.

The North Herefordshire Constituency Green Party this week named the 27-year-old as their prospective candidate following a ballot of party members.

Her mum, veteran campaigner Felicity Norman, has contested the North Herefordshire parliamentary seat at successive general elections but says she is “happy to pass the torch to the next generation”.

The candidate selection follows a local by-election victory for the Green Party in July when Leominster’s Jenny Bartlett gained a 20 per cent majority over four other candidates to win a seat on Herefordshire Council.

Miss Blench, a former student at the Minster College in Leominster, said: “Mum is well-known as a human dynamo. She has been standing for parliament here since before I was born but is now very busy with her council commitments.

"She graciously concedes that at parliamentary level it just might be time to pass the torch to the next generation. I am proud to take hold of that torch.”

And Miss Blench, a policy manager for the British Beer and Pub Association, is no stranger to elections.

At 18 she was one of Herefordshire Council’s youngest ever candidates and later, while at university, she stood as a Green parliamentary candidate for the Essex constituency of Braintree in the 2010 general election.

A regular visitor to Herefordshire, Miss Blench will be returning home in the spring to mount her campaign. She is assured of lots of help from her mum, a town and Herefordshire councillor, and her dad, the former journalist Pete Blench.

"It’s time for my generation to play our part in shaking the political establishment," she said.

"Many of the securities that our parents and grandparents fought for – a functioning National Health Service, free education and an affordable home – now look out of reach for many of us. Coupled with this, climate change is bringing unpredictable and threatening weather patterns. This is no time for timidity. It’s time to implement bold policies for the security of people and their environment.”